Drying apparatus



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H. W. ELA-PPLEYE.

DRYING APPARATUS.'

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H. W. RAPPLEYE.

DRYING APPARATUS. No. 443,150.. Patented Dao. '23, 1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT Ormes.

IIANNIBAIJ lV. RAPPLEYE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

DRYlNG APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,150, dated December 23, 1890.

Application filed November 5, 1889. Serial No. 3291265l (N0 modem To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, I-IANNIBAL 'W. RAP- PLEYE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Drying Apparatus, of which the following is a true and exact description, due reference being had to the accompanying drawings, -which form a part of this specification, and in which similar letters denote similar parts.

My invention relates to that class of dry ing-niachines which consists in a rotary vessel in which the material to be dried is placed, and hot air or other heat is passed through said vessel and the material therein contained; and it consists in certain novel mechanism to cause all the heat to be used in that portion of the cylinder containing the material to be dried.

In the drawings, Figure l isa longitudinal part sectional view of machine. Fig. 2 is a section on the line Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a part section on the line 'y y, Fig. l. Fig. a is an end view to smaller scale. Fig. 5 is a plan view to smaller scale. Fig. 6 is a perspective viewV of one of the cams. Fig. 7 is a plan view of one of the cams, showing the course of rollers on valve-stems. Fig. S is an enlarged view of one of the valves. Fig. 9 is a section on the line .a e', Fig. 8, showing manner of preventing valve-stem from rocking.

D is a cylinder, in which the material is placed, provided with perforated periphery and closed ends. Surrounding this cylinder D is the casing or cylinder E, which is solid. A door or opening D is provided on the periphery of the cylinder D, and a door c is also provided on the periphery of the casing or cylinder E.

B are outer cylinder-heads, which are secured to the cylinder D by the bolts b h', forming a chamber B between said outer cylinder-head and the cylinder D.

A A are bearings on which the outer cylinder-head B B revolve. In place of the outer cylinder-head revolving directly on the bearings, I can interpose rollers to reduce the friotion, as is well known.

provided with oilingholes a a.

K is a sprocket-Wheel connected to the outer cylinder-head B, having hollow t-rnnnions in- These bearings are tegrally connected therewith, and Q is the sprocket-chain proceeding from the source of power and operating said sprocket-wheel K.

J is the gland of the stuffing-box, which is used to make a tight joint.

I is the pipe adapted to convey hot air. his pipe passes into the trunnions integrally connected with the outer cylinder-head B, passing into the chamber B. Within this cylinder D and extending through the head are the pipes F, provided with openingsf. The hot air is conveyed through pipe I into the chamberB, from whence it passes through pipes F, escaping through the openingsf and permeating the material in said cylinder D.

G G are a series ot' valves provided at one end with the roller g. These valves are equal in number to the pipes F in the cylinder E and project through the outer cylinder-head B to a point in front of each of said pipes F. The stems of these valves are-prevented from turning by the bracket R, one end ot the valve-stem being flattened and resting in the slot g2 in one end of the bracket, the other end of the bracket being fastened to the outer cylinder-head B by bolt r.

H H are cams, provided with the raised portions H and angular projections H2. These earns are secured to the bearing A by means of the bolt h', which passes through the slots h. The cam H is shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 6. When the cylinder D is rotated by the sprocket chain and Wheel, the rollers g on the it the cylinder be revolved in the direction of the arrow the rollers C, as they pass over the raised surfaces H', are pushed in, so that the pipes F corresponding to said valves are closed at their ends by said valves. When the cylinder D has rotated, so that the rollers gon the valves strike angular pieces H2 on the cam, the valve is pulled forward, opening the ends of the pipe F corresponding to said valves, the pipes thus being alternately closed and opened, the cam being adjusted by the bolt h so that the roller g will be pushed in so as to close the pipe when said pipe is at the upper part of its movement and opened when it is at the point where the material to be dried is in the cylinder E. s

In Fig. 7 the action of the cams upon the rollers g and valve-stem G is clearly shown.

valve come into contact with the cam H, and

ICO

The object of this is that these pipes I only which are surrounded by the material to be dried shall have hot air passing through them, and thus all the hot air is used directly upon the material to be dried.

In Fig. 2 is shown the open and closed pipes I?, the closed being above theline of material and the open below. 0f course at the beginning of the operation some of the pipes will be closed before they are above the material; but as the water becomes evaporated out of the mass its bulk decreases and it does not extend up so high in the cylinder D.

P are supports for the outer casing Il, to which it is connected by the ai'igle-wires I. The hot air enters through the pipe I into chamber I3', from which it passes through the perforated pipes F, which are open, into the cylinder D an d through the material, and with the moisture it has absorbed it passes through the perforated periphery of cylinder D into the outer casing E, from whence it'passcs to the outlet In order to prevent the temperature falling so that the moisture abstracted from the material will be deposited in the casing E, a superheater O is provided, which connects with casing E by the openings O', hy which means hot air is carried into the casing and the temperature retained, so that the moisture will not be deposited in the casing E.

The operation is as follows: The material to be dried is placed in the cylinder D, the doors of both the cylinder D and casing E closed, the cylinder D revolved, and hot air admitted through the pipes I, thehot air passing into the perforated pipes F. As the cylinder revolves, the valves are affected by cam Il so as to alternately close and open the pipes, the pipes above the material being closed and those below open. The operation is continued until the material is sufficiently dried, when it is removed through the bottom or lower surface of cylinder D and casing E. In some cases the pipes F need not be perforated, in which case the hot air passes through the pipes without escaping into the material, in which case steam or hot air would be admitted through one of the inlet-pipes I only, the Other pipe I being` used for the purpose of allowing the steam or het air to pass out.

Unless specifically claimed, I do not intend to limit myself to the specific mechanism by which the pipes are automatically closed and opened, as it is evident that the apparatus may be modified so as to produce the same result 'without deviating from the invention.

I-Iaving now fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an apparatus for drying materials, iu combination, a cylinder adapted to rotate, in which the material to be dried is placed, means to rotate said cylinder, pipes passing through said cylinder, through which pipes hot air is carried, and means, substantially as described, to automatically open the ends of said pipes.

2. In an apparatus for drying materials, in combination, a cylinder adapted to rotate, in which the material to be dried is placed, means to rotate said cylinder, perforated pipes passing through said cylinder, through which pipes hot air is carried, and means, substantially as described, to automatically close and open the ends of said pipes.

3. In an apparatus for drying materials, in combination, a cylinder adapted to rotate in which the material to be dried is placed, means to rotate said cylinder, outer cylinderheads secured to said cylinder so as to form chambers between the heads of said cylinders and said outer cylinderheads, into which chamber hot air is conveyed, perforated pipes extending through said cylinder, valves equal in number to said pipes projecting through said outer cylinder-heads in line with said pipes, and means, substantially as described, to automaticallyoperate said valves to close and open the ends of said pipes.

4. In an apparatus for drying materials, in combination, a cylinder adapted to rotate, in which the material to be dried is placed, means to rotate said cylinder, outer cylinderheads secured to said cylinder so as to form chambers between the heads of said cylinder and said outer cylinder-heads, into which chamber hot air is conveyed, perforated pipes extending through said cylinders,valves equal in number to said pipes projecting through said outer cylinder-head in line with said pipes, and means, substantially as described, to automatically operate said valves so that the pipes which are above the material to be dried shall have their ends closed while those pipes which are surrounded by the material to be dried shall be open.

5. In an apparatus for drying materials, in combination, a cylinder adapted to rotate, in which the material to be dried is placed, means to rotate said cylinder, outer cylinderheads secured to said cylinder so as to form chambers between the heads of said cylinder and said outer cylinder head, into which chamber het air is con veyed, perforated pipes extending through said cylinder, valves equal in nulnber to said pipes projecting through said outer cylinder-head in line with said pipes, a projection on the end of the stem of said valves, and a cam, substantially as described,in the line of travel of the projection of said valve, whereby the valve is operated to close and open the pipes.

o'. In an apparatus for drying materials, in combination, a cylinder adapted to rotate, in which the material to be dried is placed, means to rotate said cylinder, outer cylinderheads secured to said cylinder sc as to form chambers between the heads of said cylinder and said outer cylinder-heads, into which chamber hot air is conveyed, perforated pipes extending through said cylinder, valves equal in number to said pipes projecting through IOC IIO

said outer cylinder-heads in line with said pipes, a roller on the end of the stem of said valve, and a cam, substantially as described, in the line of travel of the roller of said valves, whereby the valve is operated to close and open the pipes.

7. In an apparatus for drying materials, in combination, a cylinder adapted to rotate, in which the material to be dried is placed, means to rotate said cylinder, outer cylinderheads secured to said cylinder so as to form chambers between the heads of said cylinder and said outer cylinder-heads, into which chamber hot air is conveyed, perforated pipes extending through said cylinder, valves equal in number to said pipes projecting through said outer cylinder-heads in line with said pipes, a roller on the end of the stem of said valve,and a cam,substantially as described, in the line of travel of the roller of said valves, said cam being so constructed that it will push the valve inward and close the corresponding pipe when said pipe is above the material to be dried aud pulls said valve forward and opens the corresponding pipe when the pipe is in the material to be dried.

S. ln an apparatus for drying materials, in combination, a cylinder adapted to rotate, in which the material to be dried is placed, means to rotate said cylinder, outer cylinderheads secured to said cylinder so as to form chambers between the heads of said cylin der and said outer cylinder-heads, into which chamber hot air is conveyed, perforated pipes extending through said cylinder, valves equal in number to said pipes projecting through said outer cylinder-heads in line with said pipes, a roller on the end of the stem of said valve, and a cam H, provided with a raised portion Il and angular overhanging portions H2, said cam being in the path of movement of the rollers of said valves, whereby when the roller strikes the portion H it is pushed forward, closing the corresponding pipe, and when the roller strikes the overhanging portion the valve is pulled forward andthe corresponding pipe opened.

9. In an apparatus for drying materials, in combination, a cylinder adapted to rotate, in which the material to be dried is placed, means to rotate said cylinder, outer cylinderheads secured to said cylinder so as to form chambers between the heads of said cylinder and said outer cylinder-heads, into which chamber hot air is conveyed, perforated pipes extending through said cylinder, valves equal in number to said pipes projecting through said outer cylinder-heads in line with said pipes, a roller on the end of the stem of said valve, and cam Il, adjustably secured to the bearings in which said outer cylinder-heads revolve, said cam being provided with a raised portion H and angular overhanging portions H2, said cam being in the path of movement of the rollers of said outer cylinder-heads, whereby when the roller strikes the port-ion Il it is pushed forward, closing the corresponding pipe, and when the roller strikes the overhanging portion the valve is pulled forward and the corresponding pipe opened.

10. In an apparatus for drying materials, in combination, a cylinder adapted to rotate, in which the material to be dried is placed, means to rotate said cylinder, outer cylinderheads secured to said cylinder so as to form chambers between the heads of said cylinder and said outer cylinder-heads, into which chamber hot air is conveyed, perforated pipes extending` through said cylinder, valves equal in number to said pipes projecting through said outer cylindenheads in line with said pipes, a roller on the end of said valve-stem, a bracket, and a slot in said bracket in which one end of the valve-stern rests.

In testimony of which invention I have hereunto set my hand, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this 29th day of October, Ad). 1889.

Y UANNIBAL W. RAPPLEYE.

illitiiesses:

ABNER J. Davis, JOHN GIBSON. 

